As anyone who reads this blog knows, or might guess, I am a fan of Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” — especially his special comments.
But tonight’s comentary (transcript) missed the mark, or the second half of it did.
Olbermann went off on the Republican Party and its misappropriation of the images of 9/11 during its convention in a video billed by the party as a tribute.
As Olbermann said,
What we got was not a tribute to the dead of 9/11, nor even a tribute to the responders, or the singularity of purpose we all felt.
The Republicans gave us sociological pornography… a virtual snuff film.
He called it a branding of a national tragedy, an effort to lay claim to the events of that day to create a climate of fear,
To open again the horrible wounds, to brand the skin of this nation with the message — as hateful as the terrorists’ own — that you must vote Republican or this will happen again and you will die.
The deconstruction was a tour de force. But what followed, an attempt by Olbermann to blow the standard boasting of a candidate into something more, dulled his blade.
The quotation:
“Look,” he said. “I know the area, I’ve been there, I know wars, I know how to win wars, and I know how to improve our capabilities so that we will capture Osama bin Laden — or put it this way, bring him to justice. We will do it. I know how to do it.”
Olbermann’s read on it is that
we must take him at his word, that this is no mere ludicrous campaign boast.
We must assume Senator McCain truly believes he is capable of doing this, and has been capable of doing this, since last January.
But why? How is this different than any other campaign boast? He’s not saying he has a secret plan, but that he has the know-how, the temperment and the commitment to find and capture the elusive Bin Laden.
I think he’s full of you know what, but that’s not the point. Olbermann in tonight’s special comment unfortunately crashes on the shoals of logic and partisanism, playing loose with McCain’s words in nearly the same way as he accuses — rightly — Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity of doing.
He doesn’t make is own “Worst Persons” list, but I do expect better of him than this. There is enough to be outraged about in McCain and his party’s behavior during this campaign season so that he shouldn’t have to go down this road.
Hank Kalet 